Tuesday, July 5, 2016

While the Western world was agonizing about Brexit last
week, the presidents of Russia and China were holding an important diplomatic
confab. They were working on forging an alliance of non-Western nations. See this story from the Singapore-based Straits Times.

We tend to see the world revolving around whatever is
happening in Europe and America. And yet, what with America’s retreat from
international diplomacy and Europe fast on its way to becoming a basket case, a
new world order is coming into being. Not the one that we thought we were going
to see, but one where the center of diplomatic gravity is shifting toward the
East.

This means, from the onset, that many of the old verities
are being challenged, if not overthrown. While the West is agonizing about
multicultural diversity and the pursuit of social justice, other nations are
doing business.

Writing from Israel Caroline Glick notes that many of our
preconceived notions about world politics are being discredited:

We are
living at a time when preconceived notions are crashing down one on top of the
other.

We
thought that nothing would ever change in the Arab world. But the Arab world
hasn’t merely changed, large portions of it have collapsed. And regimes that
have so far survived are beating a path to Israel’s door.

We
thought that American dominance in the Middle East would last forever. And
today the US is withdrawing. Its withdrawal may be short-lived, or it may stay
out for the foreseeable future. Whatever the case, Russia is already picking up
the pieces.

That
would be shocking enough. But even worse, as it has withdrawn, the US has
turned a cold shoulder to Israel and its Sunni allies in a bid to build an
alliance with Iran.

We
thought that the European Union was the rising world power. We thought the euro
was the currency of tomorrow.

Instead,
Britain decided to bolt the EU and the euro zone is a disaster zone. European
economic growth is sclerotic. European societies are coming apart at the seams
under the crushing weight of failed monetary policies, over-regulation and mass
emigration from the ruins of the Arab world.

The grandest illusion is also being overthrown: namely, that
nothing good will ever happen to Israel until it caves in to Palestinian terrorism.
For those who are curious to know where anyone ever got the idea that terrorism
could be an effective way to make war, they need only examine the Western
submissiveness when faced with Palestinian terrorism.

Glick writes:

The
view that Israel’s diplomatic fate is directly tied to its willingness to give
up Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem is based on the Eurocentric view that the EU
is the most important player in the diplomatic arena and that Israel cannot be
successful unless Brussels supports us. For Israel’s elites, the fact that the
EU is hostile to Israel is taken as proof that we are morally compromised and
don’t deserve its support.

But as
Israel’s diplomatic rise in Africa, Asia, Russia and beyond makes clear, the
Eurocentric view is wrong. Israel needn’t waste its time and energy trying to
appease the Europeans. Not only is it an exercise in futility, given Europe’s
boundless and unhinged hostility. It is also unnecessary, given Europe’s
economic weakness and political decay.

Due to
our elite’s continued allegiance to the Eurocentric view, scant media attention
has been paid to Israel’s diplomatic blossoming. Much of the public is unaware
that far from being isolated, Israel is enjoying a diplomatic rise unseen since
the end of the Cold War.

She adds:

But
amazingly, despite the fact that there is no peace process, rather than
suffering from diplomatic collapse, it is springtime for Israeli diplomacy as
governments around the world seek out closer ties with the Jewish state.

And
they aren’t coming to us, despite our supposed moral failings. They are coming
to us because they admire us.

As Prime Minister Netanyahu sets off on a diplomatic mission
to Africa this week, other foreign leaders are expressing their admiration for
Israel. At a time when Barack Obama is forging an alliance with Iran and
abandoning traditional friends, when Obama and the left wing of the Democratic
Party can only express contempt for Natanyahu, the president of Russia
expresses his admiration for the Jewish state:

Glick writes:

Last
week Putin delivered an address before the All Russian Historical Assembly
about the importance of teaching Russian history to Russia’s citizens.

Putin
used Israel as a model for how historical knowledge empowers a nation.

Putin
said, “Israel... relies and develops its identity and brings up its citizens
with reliance on historical examples.”

Putin’s
use of Israel as a positive role model showed that Putin’s sudden courtship of
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not solely the product of strategic and
economic interests.

Netanyahu
has met with President Vladimir Putin four times in the last year. He has also
worked out a deal, according to senior officials who spoke to me on background,
in which Russia will allow Israeli jets to target members of the terrorist
group Hezbollah operating in Syria, where Russians now control the air space.

And Israel is also establishing good relations with China
and India. Lake writes:

Israel
under Netanyahu is also expanding links with China, now the country's
third-largest trading partner. Gold told me this week at his Foreign Ministry
office that it's almost impossible to get a seat these days on the El Al flight
from Tel Aviv to Beijing. A similar story can be told about Israel's
relationship with India, whose Narendra Modi is expected to be the first Indian
prime minister ever to visit Israel later this year. As the Israelis increase
defense trade with India, it has also begun to end some of its historic support
for the Palestinians at the United Nations.

And Lake also points out that Israel is repairing
relationships across the Middle East. Even though many Arab countries continue
to support the Palestinian cause in their public pronouncements, they are
working diplomatically with Israel.

Lake continues:

Finally,
Israel is repairing and enhancing relationships in the Middle East. In 2011,
Turkey downgraded its ties following Israel's raid on a flotilla trying to
breach the naval blockade of Gaza. This month, Turkey's foreign minister
announced that his country was one or two meetings away from normalizing the
relationship again.

There
is also much secret diplomacy between Israel and the Gulf monarchies. Israel
has had such contacts with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates since the
height of the peace process in the 1990s. But Gold told me there was an
important difference between Israel's Arab diplomacy today and during the peace
process years.

For this, among other reasons, Lake adds, the Boycott
Divestment Sanction movement has failed:

Both
sides of this fight give the impression that Israel is becoming a pariah. And
yet BDS has failed as both an economic and diplomatic weapon. Consider that
since 2006, when the movement began, Israel's gross domestic product has nearly
doubled, going from a little over $154 billion to $299 billion for 2015.

3 comments:

The GDP of Israel is about $300 billion, and the U.S. foreign aid to Israel is just $3 billion, a drop in the bucket perhaps, even if $400 per man, woman and child in Israel is an excellent birthday present.

So does this new world order mean we can cut off Israel's tab and let her sink or swim on her own?

Can you imagine how U.S. citizens would feel if China was giving the U.S. federal government $130 billion per year in foreign aid? That would worry me, like what does China expect in return?

Israel's diplomatic changes are even more mind-boggling than cited above:http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/07/the-spirit-of-entebbe.php

"Israel’s incredibly daring operation to free Jewish hostages held by murderous terrorists at the Entebbe airport in Uganda took place forty years ago today, as we celebrated the bicentennial Independence Day. It was a great day for freedom all the way around. Suffice it to say that the spirit of Israel’s Operation Thunderbolt holds much in common with our Independence Day.

Almost unbelievably, Prime Minister Netanyahu–the brother of the rakishly handsome Israeli officer who died leading the operation on the ground–celebrated the anniversary of the operation today as the honored guest of Uganda’s current president. (Operation Thunderbolt is now referred to as Operation Jonathan. The site honoring Jonathan Netanyahu’s memory recounts the raid on Entebbe that he led.):